POTSDAM -- Clarkson University assistant professor of mechanical & aeronautical engineering Parisa Mirbod has received a grant of $342,659 from the National Science Foundation for her research project entitled: “A bio-inspired strategy to dramatically reduce drag of particle-laden liquids over planar surfaces; characterization, theory, and experiment.”

“The project will explore our understanding of the motion of the particles in a suspension inside a channel where porous boundaries exist. This research could significantly advance microfluidic-based devices in a wide range of industrial applications including biomedical fields, food, and pharmaceuticals to drastically reduce friction and wear of these devices,” Mirbod said.

She has also received a grant of $441,781 from the Army Research Office to examine the instability of suspensions in a system in the existence of the porous materials. “This project will specifically focus on both analytical and experimental methods to understand the instability of suspension flows in a system covered partially with a porous material,” Mirbod said. “These two projects are the very first researches to analyze in detail, complex fluids flowing over porous materials.”

Undergraduates will participate as researchers in these projects through the McNair summer research program, Clarkson's REU program in Sustainability, and Clarkson's Honors program.

Learn more about the project at the NSF website: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1706766.